Music ‘drop box’ café planned for Baltic Triangle

A café where aspiring bands have the chance to get their material featured by a successful music distribution service could be heading to the Baltic Triangle.

Ditto Music, which helped launch the careers of Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith, wants to open Ditto Coffee on Jamaica Street.

According to a planning application submitted to Liverpool City Council by Ditto, which has its offices in Elevator Studios on nearby Parliament Street, the café will also sell records.

A document included with the application says the café will “provide a ‘drop box’ for aspiring artists to submit their music to Ditto Music for the chance to be featured on their website, Spotify playlist and other music distribution services”.

The proposal is to change the use of Unit 4, 10 – 14 Jamaica Street, from the approved use of A1 and/or B1 use to A3 use as a café with ancillary retail.

Matt Parsons, Ditto Music

Ditto Music, which was awarded a Merseyside Innovation Award for its Record Label In A Box product in 2016, distributes music to 160 digital music stores including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, VEVO, eMusic and Spotify.

In January 2007, Ditto engineered a single by Colchester pop punk outfit ‘Koopa’ which went on to become the first digital-only single in the UK Top 40 and the first from an unsigned band to be included in the chart.

Brothers Matt and Lee Parsons founded the company in Birmingham in 2005 before moving to Liverpool in 2010.

Speaking to YM Liverpool about the new venture, Matt says: “As Ditto grew internationally over the years Lee and I travelled further afield and experienced amazing new coffee cultures worldwide. Wherever we travelled we saw that coffee shops are a centre for communities. Ditto Coffee combines those two, giving a vibrant meeting place that also showcases local music the community can be proud of.

“Ditto Coffee will have 10 locations by summer 2019. All locations will have a demo drop box. We are very keen to hear new music from everywhere, with a view to signing local acts to a recording deal with our label and worldwide promotion.

“Each will also have live music, a route to market for local acts and labels, a community hub and of course the best coffee we’ve ever tasted. “